Java.sun.com, Sun's main Java site, has an interview with Peter von
der Ahé, (http://java.sun.com/developer/Meet-Eng/vonderahe/) Sun's
tech lead for javac, Sun's Java compiler, who
claims that if developers know how to use the Compiler API, it will
provide a lot of indirect benefits. But are the benefits sufficient to
repay the time and effort required? Does anyone have experience with
this?

-- He argues, in regard to generics: "Rather than trying to provide
reified types for all instances, why not simply accept that some
instances do not have reified type information, because they are
compiled with a 1.4.2 compiler, or for other reasons? This turns
reification into a best-effort problem: if you use a raw type, then no
type information is reified, but if you avoid raw types, you can take
advantage of the additional reified type information."

Does turning reification into a "best effort problem" make sense to
anyone?

-- His proposal for an alternative to type inference for local
variables involves having the compiler provide the static factories.

-- He discusses the Kitchen Sink Language, (https://ksl.dev.java.net/)
which is a place you can modify javac and play around like the
ultimate geek. Has anyone been engaged in any experimentation there?

He's obviously a smart, creative guy; I lack the competence to guage
the validity of his ideas though, so I thought I'd throw it up in the
air and see what lands...